


Church of Scars

by SakeruTama



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Loki (Marvel), BAMF Tony Stark, Dragon Tony Stark, Dragons everywhere, He looks real good for his age, I totally destroy canon, M/M, Magic Tony stark, No one knows hes a dragon cause he sneaky, Odin (Marvel)'s A+ Parenting, Sassy Loki (Marvel), Sassy Tony Stark, Slow Burn, Unresolved Sexual Tension, cause he is hella old, what do he use on his skin?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-06 09:32:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15191882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SakeruTama/pseuds/SakeruTama
Summary: Secrets always find a way to get out, no matter how hard or how long you fight to protect them.Tony Stark is about to discover that the hard way.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well.
> 
> This one sprung up on me unexpectedly.
> 
> The title comes from an amazing album of the same name by Bishop Briggs. I strongly recommend as it's pure FrostIron feels from start to finish.

Do your dirt, make your mark  
My heart is a church of scars  
That's hallowed ground

Hallowed Ground By Bishop Briggs

_\-------------_

Tony Stark would be the first person to tell you that complacency breeds failure. To live on the cutting edge of innovation was the only way to truly better anything. 

Except complacency has a funny way of sneaking up on us all, even the great and mighty Tony Stark couldn't avoid it. Unfortunately when you've been alive for as long as Tony had its a hard thing to avoid.

For he had been alive for a  _very_ long time. 

Before the nine realms even came into being the first time around, he was born. From the swirls of darkness and power that existed at the very beginning he awoke and from that darkness he was joined by his 8 siblings, one assigned to each realm. They watched as the first Ragnarok occurred, and they watched the endless cycle of death and rebirth as the planets fell again and again. Eventually the 9 separated, each going to their own realm with hopes of watching and guiding, of protecting and nurturing. They hoped to one day stop Ragnarok and break the cycle. 

Tony, not his original name but his most recently adopted one, had been watching over Earth with very little issue for some time now, the use of the Iron Man suits enabling him to be much more open in his protection of the planet.

Yes, he had to deal with the occasional 'super villain' and SHIELD trying to control him but on the whole, this was proving to be one of his more pleasant and sedate experiences living amongst humans. He had people he cared for, people who loved him and a motivation to live he'd long thought lost. Things were better than he remembered them being for a very long time

And so, complacency set in. 

A mistake he and many others would live to regret 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we have lift off! I hope you all enjoyed the prologue, or are at least intrigued to see where things go. The 1st official chapter should be up in the next couple days provided my life doesn't spiral into chaos, as it often does.
> 
> Apologies for any mistakes made, they are entirely my own.


	2. Tempt my Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life lesson #51378 - Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse for threatening a dragon.

_You stroke my pain_  
_And tempt my trouble_  
_Sick how we pretend_  
_But we're not friends_  
_And we're not lovers_  
_We're just trouble_

Tempt my Trouble by Bishop Briggs

 

"JARVIS run a full diagnostic on the systems and all of the suits."

"But Sir, that would be the 4th time this week. Is something wrong?" 

The concerned tone JARVIS gave him caused Tony to pause, wrench in hand as he worked on some final alterations to the arc reactor for Stark Tower.

In truth, something actually was wrong. He just didn't know what it was.

For the past few weeks, he had an unsettled feeling in his stomach, vibrations running through the air of something  _not right_. Now, this wasn't unusual, there was almost always low-level warnings of something happening. This was Earth after all and someone was almost always trying to start a war or cause massive devastation. 

No, what unsettled him was that he couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was coming from or what was causing it and for someone that liked to have all the information on a situation, that bothered him.

"Just getting paranoid in my old age Jarv, these bones of mine are telling me somethings up with no evidence to support the notion."

The faint hum as JARVIS began diagnostics let Tony know that he hadn't been particularly convincing in his nonchalance. JARVIS was well aware that when Tony had a hunch it was worth listening to.

For JARVIS knew that there wasn't a being alive more in tune with Earth than Tony.

Tony had never tried to hide the truth of who he was from JARVIS, what would have been the point? His creator often liked to ramble and reminisce about his past experiences on Earth, as well as his visits to the other realms. He would talk at length about how dearly he cared for his siblings and how he missed the times when all of them were together. Whilst JARVIS didn't really have a point of reference for such emotion, he had never been without Sir for any significant period of time, he knew that the thought of being separated from him for such an incredibly long time was...unsettling. JARVIS always made sure that the bots were present and that Miss Potts or Colonel Rhodes 'unexpectedly' came to visit after Sir talked about his siblings, to quietly remind him of his new family and how dearly they cared for him.

Silence enveloped the workshop for several hours as Tony lost himself to tinkering and tweaking and JARVIS scoured every inch of their network, the suits and every media and news outlet available to try and find what had Sir on edge.

Daylight had long since disappeared when Tony sat bolt upright in his chair, tools falling to the floor and eyes staring off into the distance in growing horror. His entire body felt like it was on fire, every nerve ending singing and his instincts screaming.

"Sir?"

"It's the Tesseract. Someone's just used it to open a portal to earth."

The implications fell heavy in the air for a beat before Tony pushed himself out of his chair and began to furiously pace.

Contrary to popular tabloid opinion, that Tony was a daredevil maverick that never really thought anything through and just hoped for the best, Tony thought through everything. All the pros and cons, every variable and alternative option for every possible scenario. He just happened to be better and faster at it than the average person. 

Now, however, it was like someone had dumped ice in his brain and his gears had ground to a stop. Had he been in better spirits he would no doubt have joked that he should put a buffering sign above his head.

"Sir, I would advise that your core temperature has risen significantly and would recommend taking action to rectify."

Absently Tony noticed that his clothes were starting to smoke and the floor beneath his feet had begun to bubble.

With a deep breath he centred himself, he would have time to berate himself and swim in self-loathing once he had kicked out their 'unwanted house guest'.

"JARVIS bring up the security footage for the SHIELD facility that holds the Tesseract and show me what the hell those dumbasses were doing to that blasted pandora's box that laid out a fucking welcome mat at the front door."

His eyes widened fractionally before narrowing into a glare at the sight that greeted him. Odin's youngest brat looking considerably worse for wear compared to the last time he decided to grace Earth with his overly dramatic presence. 

"Damn it, I'm really regretting not blasting his ass the last time he was here causing shit. Are there any other Asgardians on planet Jarv? We need to work out why and how the hell he came through the Tesseract and why not via Asgards traditional rainbow light show."

The screen blacked out and Tony looked up at the ceiling quizzically.

"My apologies Sir but it appears that a blast from the Tesseract has caused the entirety of the SHIELD facility to collapse in on its self, but to answer your previous question there doesn't appear to be any other Asgardians on the planet at current."

With a frustrated sigh, Tony began to pace again. This time however his thoughts were in overdrive. He was going to need to play this right or else Asgards precious emo wonderkid was going to screw everything up for him. For the next hour, he searched through all available information on Loki to try to figure out his motives, as well as monitoring SHIELD's communication channels. A grimace in place as his brain pulled together the loose pieces of a plan.

"Jarv, call Pepp and tell her to get the tower as soon as she can. I've going to need her on this one."

"Of course Sir."

"Oh and tell her Agent Coulson is on his way as well. She's better at pretending to be surprised than I am."

* * *

 "Hey, I need to go check-in on my suit, meet you in the lab?"

Dr Banner nodded and turned left down one of the long corridors on the Helicarrier whilst Tony banked right and hurried as casually as he could in the opposite direction.

Honestly not much of this was going according to plan but as they say, you live and learn. He had hoped to take Loki out by himself but somehow had become embroiled in Fury's superhero fantasy boy band. 

With practised ease he drew from the well of magic that rested within him, cloaking himself from the eyes of the many swarming SHIELD agents. The sounds around him fell away as he listened for the hum of Loki's seidhr. He released the spell just before he got to the door of the cell, he didn't want Loki to sense anything ahead of time and ruin everything, switching to more human means of hiding himself as JARVIS altered the audio and visual feeds from the cameras around the Asgardian's cell. 

No one else needed to be present for this.

Loki looked up and smirked at him as he entered the room. Tony knew that Loki would be going off information bird boy had provided him, which he could hopefully use to his advantage to rile him up a little.

"I have to say I wasn't expecting another visitor quite so soon but I get the impression this one isn't part of Fury's script."

Tony didn't grant Loki a response, instead, a predatory silence enveloped the room. Honestly if Tony wasn't trying his best to keep his cover he would have half a mind to switch to his normal form, chew the little drama queen up and spit him out back on Asgard. He could see the gears in Loki's head turn as he realised he was clearly lacking a vital piece of information.

Boy was he right on that one.

The tiniest of twitches let Tony know that the godling could sense his aura, could sense he was someone to be afraid of. 

Good.

"Well as lovely as this has been Mr Stark, I really must.."

"So who sent you to do their dirty work?"

Loki face flashed with white-hot rage as Tony cut him off before quickly schooling his features back to his trademarked smirk. 

Looks like Tony hit the jackpot on that one.

"Because you see I've done some research on you and this," Tony paused to gesture sweepingly around the room "doesn't really seem like your style. I mean the whole royal family squabble, hamlet-esque political shenanigans of your last little trip were much more on brand. This seems like someone else is pulling your strings and I'd very much like to know who it is."

"I must say I'm having to agree with Agent Barton's assessment that you indeed talk far too much and on topics you shouldn't, tell me Stark are you comfortable doing Fury's 'Dirty Work' as you eloquently put it?"

Tony grinned back at Loki with eyes that were far too perceptive and a grin that he found on his own face more often than his enemies. It wasn't one of happiness or jubilation, it was a cold expression that was as much rage as it was mirth at the other person's expense and showed entirely too many teeth.

"Oh sweetheart, you really have no idea who you are dealing with do you?" Tony chuckled as he stepped closer towards the glass. "Going off someone else's intel about an enemy before making your own assessment is such a rookie move, I'm honestly shocked. All of the legends and myths about you on earth painted you as someone with an enviable intellect. Clearly someone was just hoping to get in your good graces. I'm almost disappointed, here I was hoping you might be worth my time to worry about."

With impressive speed, Loki moved from his spot in the middle of the cell and slammed his fists against the glass.

"Your primitive race couldn't even begin to fathom my greatness. You are nothing but mindless beasts with a penchant for killing each other,  and since I've heard that's something you're quite good at doing I'm going to lock you inside your own mind and force you to watch as you slaughter thousands upon thousands of innocent people. Then once I have this entire worthless planet under my control, I'm going to round up that little redhead you adore so much and your precious colonel and truly enjoy watching you rip them apart. You'll be my own personal executioner, _my merchant of death,_ and there won't be a damn thing you or any of your pathetic teammates can do."

It took everything Tony had not to break through the glass barrier and separate Loki's head from his body. 

"That a threat  _your majesty_? Fair warning, that's not worked out so well for people on the past" Whatever humour or cockiness had been in Tony's voice before had vanished. The godling has pushed the one button that no one was allowed to push, threatened the only people in this world he truly cared about. Part of his brain registered that Loki was only lashing out because it was Tony that had started pushing the Asgardians buttons but the rest of his brain didn't particularly care. He'd gotten what he came for anyway, confirmation that Loki wasn't the mastermind behind all of this, because who decides they want to rule over a planet they hate and try to convince someone of their intention about it by insulting said planet every second word? 

Loki said nothing, only smirked at his perceived victory against the man before him.

Without another word, Tony turned and stalked away. If he stayed much longer it was very likely he would blow his cover and he needed to gather some more information before he made his next move. 

It took a mammoth effort to put his human persona back in place as he made his way towards the laboratory Banner was working in. He knew he needed to play along with Loki's game for a little while longer, he didn't want to run the risk of being uncovered and make himself public enemy number one in the process. Besides whilst he was here it was a good a chance as any to hack into some of SHIELD's super secret spy plans and annoying the everloving hell out of Fury and everyone else on board.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd planned on making this chapter longer but it was causing me issues and I was over editing.  
> Hope you all enjoyed, the response so far has been great!  
> Any mistakes are entirely my own


	3. Raise Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When dealing with an angry dragon, it's always best to avoid trying to invade their planet. They get a little protective about things like that.

_Young blood, run like a river_  
_Young blood, never get chained_  
_Young blood, heaven need a sinner_  
_You can't raise hell with a saint_

Raise Hell by Dorothy

 

Honestly by this point he wasn't sure who he more annoyed at, Loki or himself.  

It had been a long time since one of his plans had gone so  _spectacularly_ wrong.

To fall under the sceptres sway even slightly and fail to sense the impending arrival of Loki's mind mushed team of flying monkeys? He was never going to live this one down. As if that wasn't bad enough things had descended into chaos and he had to spend most of his time making sure the damn ship stayed in the air. 

Because of that, they had lost Coulson. 

Tony had become numb to the deaths of humans many years ago, the sad fact of being an immortal living amongst billions of short-lived mortals. It didn't stop his heart from aching at the thought of telling Pepper or the hurt his cellist, the very one they had spoken about only a few hours before, would be going through.

When this was all over Tony had every intention of drowning himself in alcohol for a week solid.

So now here he was, heading into his own tower to get rid of a very annoying squatter.

The glaring match the two of them had on the way in had been a nice touch but the thought of having Loki in his nest was the biggest test of his resolve, and his patience, so far.  

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you. You know kinda like you did the last time we met? Only I had the capability of carrying mine out. Drink?" Tony prowled to behind the bar as he spoke. He could feel the temperature in the air begin to slowly raise and hear a faint electric hum to indicate JARVIS was ready to do whatever he asked.

"Stalling me won't change anything Stark, I recommend you enjoy your last few minutes of freedom." Loki ended on a snarl. Just who did this mortal think he was?

Tony hummed as he poured his drink before downing it in one and slamming the glass down on the bar.

Time for some fun.

Before Loki even had time to register than Tony had moved, they were face to face.

Only Loki wasn't looking at the face he remembered.

In its place were harsh angular lines and pointed ears, with lips pulled back over much sharper teeth than he remembered. The stand out change had to be his eyes however. Instead of the dull brown of most of humanity, there was a swirling mixture of coppers, reds and yellows, with pupils that ran in a thin sharp line and were the same blue hue as the arc reactor.

With seemingly minimal effort Tony grabbed Loki by his throat, sharp claws that definitely hadn't been there moments before, drawing blood and slammed him hard onto the floor below.

"Do remind me what it was you said about freedom?" Tony snarled before picking the god up from the floor and throwing him into the nearest wall.

Tony began to advance on the fallen god when a blast of strong magic pushed him back and caused him to lose his balance briefly. He had to admit he was impressed, he hadn't encountered any other mage strong enough to do that.

"So it looks like you've finally decided I'm a threat worth paying attention to little prince."

Loki shook the rubble from his shoulders as he stood, his hands glowing green with power, before launching several blasts at Tony with quick succession. It was instinct more than anything that caused Tony to narrowly avoid getting hit by them. 

His tower, however, was very quickly turning into a war zone.

"What are you Stark?"

Tony wondered when that one was going to come up.

"Oh sweetheart whilst I thank you so asking  _so nicely,_  there is a long line of men and women that have died asking themselves that question."

Loki launched at him and swung the sceptre at him with roaring ferocity. Tony's hands moving swiftly in front of his face in defence and the force of them meeting caused them to be pushed apart.

It took a moment for the dust to settle but neither of was willing to back down. They both stood frozen still as they surveyed the other, looking for any possible weakness that could be exploited.

Loki was confused for the first time in a very long time, and honestly, he didn't care for the sensation.

At no point in Barton's brief on Stark had there been even the briefest of suggestions the man was anything other than 100% mortal and yet here they were. 

In truth he'd suspected something was amiss when they first met, no simple human could emit such impressive energy as the man stood before him had done.

"You test my patience Stark."

"Not the first time I've heard that one princeling and won't be the last"

Loki found himself grinding his teeth in anger, just who did he think he was treated Loki as if he was some adolescent brat that was wasting his time.

"I've got hundreds upon hundreds of years of experience on you Stark. No matter what low-level beast you are, there is no way you can beat me."

It was almost owlish the way Tony blinked at him before he tilted his head back and roared with laughter. 

"That's got to be the best thing I've heard all day." Tony managed to gasp out between laughs. It was so amusing just how fundamentally  _wrong_ people could be, particularly when they were so sure they were right.

A sickening roar from outside the tower had Tony's emotions turned on their head. He whipped round to see a Leviathan and hoards of Chituari descending upon New York.

"Looks like you're too late."

He didn't even see Tony move before the man's claws were once again digging into his throat, fresh blood running over the tracks left from before. With brutal force, Tony slammed him into the floor again and again.

Loki laid prone in his body shaped crater, pain radiating through every atom in his body. If Stark wished to kill him now there wouldn't be a damn thing he could do about it. 

"I'm not going to kill you, no matter how much I want to."

Loki looked up at the man above him, smoke and flames rolling across his skin, and found himself wondering at that moment how anyone could ever have thought he was human. 

Even with the pain slowly ebbing and feeling returning to his body, there wasn't anything Loki could do as Tony reached down into the crater and lifted him up by the back of his head.

An intense pressure, like a dam with no outlet, began to build in his head. It grew so strong that before he could truly register what was going on he found himself screaming in agony. 

All at once it felt like something snapped and the pressure disappeared. Like something that had been held on a tension for a long time finally being released. 

Gasping to find breath he didn't realise he'd lost, Loki blinked rapidly as he tried to focus but his head was swimming and eyes unwilling.

"I had a bit of a rummage around in your head and threw out your unwanted guest. You're welcome. Now, sit tight whilst I fix the rest of your mess"

Tony pulled Loki out of the crater and almost gently placed laid him down on what was left of the floor.

With everything starting to fit back into place in his mind and as the fog was beginning to clear Loki's eyes finally seemed to catch up with what was going on. He watched as Tony walked away in growing horror. Even through the remains of his shirt, Loki could see the shifting of bones, the cracks and pops as his body moved and repositioned itself. True fear settled as a large pair of blood red wings revealed themselves from between his shoulder blades and Loki realised his mistake.

He had made an enemy of a dragon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh so fun note I should have mentioned before is that the chapters ( Except the prologue) are titled after whatever song I'm obsessed with/is providing me with the most inspiration whilst writing the said chapter.
> 
> I have a FrostIron Spotify playlist that I listen to on shuffle whilst writing. https://open.spotify.com/user/rpullan95/playlist/2QPbOo9sUSRp3sZtm2zmdJ?si=cpf_Ep4kTt6OD4ww3ywbGw 
> 
> Thanks again for all the support!


End file.
